


Firefights and Fireflies

by saltpidge



Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Firefly AU, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other: See Story Notes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2018-11-28 21:10:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11426259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltpidge/pseuds/saltpidge
Summary: Shiro and his crew find themselves in the aftermath of a war nobody wanted, on the losing side. Living on a spaceship is difficult, especially when work is hard to come by and they can barely afford to keep the ship floating. After a quick pit stop the team finds a stranger willing to hire them to transport a mysterious box. The job seems simple enough, but secrets are hard to keep in such a small ship, and all boxes have to be opened.





	1. Moon Landing

**Author's Note:**

> I got stuck on the idea of a Firefly AU months ago and finally decided to do something about it. More tags and details will be added soon. Ships will come, trust me. Rating might change depending on how graphic this gets. All characters are 18 or older.  
> CONTENT WARNINGS: War, PTSD, Psychological Trauma, Torture, Panic Attacks, Violence/Gore, Swearing, (Minor Character) Death, More TBD

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shiro's POV

**Chapter One - Moon Landing**

 

Shiro woke to find sunlight streaming in through his window. He let out a long sigh as he stared up at the patterns the light was making on the ceiling. It seemed like it’d been ages since he’d seen sunlight, flying through space really messed with the overall sense of time. His head slowly turned to look at the clock on his wall. It took a moment for the fog of sleep to leave him and allow him to read the time. 09:23, or as he liked to put it; late.

“Damn it, Lance.” He muttered as he tossed his blankets aside. Shiro pulled himself out of bed and made his way to the dresser. He paused when he saw himself in the mirror. He let out a sigh and brushed the white hair away from his forehead. He wasn’t fond of the white streak of hair or the scar running across his face. They were a constant reminder of the war, and he wanted desperately to forget. He despised how the smallest, most insignificant things could send him spiraling back. It took every ounce of his concentration to stay in the moment.

Shiro tore his gaze from the mirror and grabbed his clothes for the day. He took some deep breaths as he pulled a shirt over his head and made his way to the door. His hands lightly gripped the valve before him and turned it to the right. He pushed against it and the door creaked open, revealing a dimly lit hallway outside. Shiro yawned as he stepped out into the hall and began the short walk to the control room. He ascended a small flight of stairs before he came face to face with the door, which opened as soon as it sensed his presence. The door let out a hissing sound, causing the pilot to lift his head as Shiro entered the room.

Lance smiled innocently as Shiro glared at him. “Shiro, captain, buddy, my man-”

“Lance, how long have we been docked?” Shiro’s foot tapped impatiently against the metal floor of the ship.

“Umm, let me see,” Lance turned away to check the clock that sat on the dashboard of the ship. “We docked around 08:47 so we’ve been here for about...35 minutes I think.” Lance tapped his fingers against the dashboard as he counted, then nodded as he confirmed his math.

“Didn’t I tell you to wake us when we landed?” Shiro grabbed his coat off the co-pilot’s seat. He pulled it on and turned to face Lance again.

“Yeah, but I mean it’s just so early I didn’t wanna bother everyone.” Lance got up to grab the intercom. “Some of us aren’t used to waking up at a moment’s notice, we’re not on a battlefield.” Lance cringed after the words left his mouth. “Sorry, I meant-”

“It’s fine,” Shiro sighed. “Just get everyone up, okay?” Before Lance could answer Shiro was exiting the control room and making his way to the cargo bay. His footsteps echoed down the hallway, causing Shiro’s body to tense. The ship around him slowly began to fade as he found himself on a battlefield long since destroyed. The sound of boots marching on the ground echoed around him as fire rained from the sky.  _ This isn’t real. _ He tried reasoning with himself.  _ Don’t think about the war, don’t think about the marching soldiers, the war is over. _ He struggled to get air in as explosions sounded in the distance. He felt like he was suffocating. It wasn’t until the loud beep of the intercom snapped Shiro back to reality that he could breathe. He heaved a sigh of relief as he found himself back on his ship, in the same spot he was standing before his flashback.

Lance’s voice echoed through the halls of the ship. “Gooooood morning, everybody. This is your pilot speaking. It is currently 09:27 and we are safely docked in the Armstrong province. We will be departing at 17:00, so get your asses back here by then or I’m leaving without you. Lance out.” Click. Charming, Lance, real charming.

Shiro had been living on his ship for two months when he first met Lance. He had moved onto a ship to stay away from the aftereffects of the war, but maintaining a ship on his own was harder than he thought. Originally he set out to find a mechanic, but all of his searching lead him to Lance. Lance had insisted he knew the best mechanic around, but refused to introduce Shiro until he allowed Lance to join him. Shiro was reluctant at first, but soon agreed to let Lance join his crew. It was then that Shiro met Hunk.

Hunk was a different story. He was certainly an amazing mechanic, but he was more hesitant to join Shiro’s crew. He was nervous a lot, Shiro had noted, especially while flying. It took days of talking and reassurance to convince Hunk it would be okay to come along, but once he stepped on board Shiro saw a smile on his face. It was a smile Shiro had seen often during the war while talking in the barracks. Despite all that was going on outside, the same smile appeared on every soldier’s face when they spoke about their home.

“Good morning, Shiro.” Hunk’s voice interrupted Shiro’s train of thought as he entered the cargo bay. Shiro glanced at Hunk’s hands, noticing hindrances of oils and dirt.

“Engine giving you trouble?” He mused.

“No more than usual.” Hunk shrugged as he grabbed a box of spare parts he kept in the storage area. “I might need to get some parts today.” He noted.

“Again?” Shiro frowned. “Didn’t we just get parts?”

“It’s an old ship, Shiro,” Hunk yawned. “It needs constant maintenance.” He began to rummage through the box of parts as he spoke.

“I know, I know,” Shiro’s voice trailed off as he saw Allura step out of her room onto the balcony overlooking the cargo bay. Her dress flowed behind her as she walked towards the balcony staircase. Her steps were light and quiet despite the metal floors of the ship. Shiro gave her a small wave as she descended down the stairs to the cargo bay below.

Shiro had met Allura four months after he hired Lance and Hunk. Allura was princess of the planet Altea, and due to her father dying in the war, she was given the responsibility of a galactic representative. She went to diplomatic meetings across the galaxy to confer with other representatives, and of course, the empire. She used Shiro’s ship as a transport whenever she had a meeting to go to. Having her on the ship was the perfect cover for the crew. If any galra wound up on the ship, Allura’s presence would disprove all suspicions of the crew being freedom fighters.

Coran was Allura’s companion. He had been close friends with Allura’s father, and after his death Coran had taken over for him. Having him around the ship was useful, he had a vast amount of knowledge that always came in handy whenever one of the crew needed help. His mannerisms were odd, to say the least, but they were also what made him who he is.

“Good morning, Shiro.” Allura spoke as she approached him.

“Morning, Princess. Do you have business on the moon?”

Allura shook her head. “No, the Armstrong province does not hold many diplomats. Coran and I simply wish to go to see the gardens that we’ve been hearing so much about.”

Shiro nodded as Coran came to join her. “Just make sure to be back in time, and be careful, we don’t know how many galra will be here.”

Shiro made his way to the control panel and began to lower the bay door. The crew squinted as beams of sunlight flooded the cargo bay. It had been a while since the ship was this bright.

“Alright,” Shiro began as he saw Lance enter the room. “I know you all have plans for the moon, but everyone keep an eye out for any jobs we can take. We need all the jobs we can get if we’re going to keep this ship running.”

Shiro watched as his crew made their way down the ramp and onto the dock. He stuck his arm out to stop Lance before he could get too far. “Lance, I need you to stay and watch the ship.”

Lance gasped dramatically and clutched his chest as if he’d been mortally wounded. “No, anything but that.”

Shiro sighed. “Lance,”

“If I have to stay on this ship for one more minute I’m going to go stir crazy.” Lance objected, giving up his dramatic pretense.

“I said you need to watch the ship, not stay on it.” Shiro patted Lance’s shoulder sympathetically. “Go ahead and take a walk, but don’t let the ship out of your sight. I’m trusting you.”

Before Lance could respond Shiro was descending down the bay door onto the docks. He began walking up the docks towards town, glancing at the docked ships as he passed by. There were ships of various shapes and sizes stopped to get supplies. Shiro felt some tension fall from his shoulders when he realized that none of the ships were made for battle. All of the ships were primarily made to carry cargo. That meant there were low chances of any galra soldiers visiting the moon. Unfortunately that also meant it would be harder to get business with all the competition.

He heaved a sigh when he made it into town and saw the galran propaganda hanging everywhere. He let his gaze fell down to his arm, the one he lost in the war. Every so often he could swear he could feel his old hand there, but when his eyes were greeted with a metal hand his hopes washed away. He did everything he could to fight against the galra empire, but they were too powerful. Being on the losing side of a war was painful, everywhere he looked he could see the purple insignia of Zarkon’s monarchy. The only place without it was his ship. His safe haven from the effects of the war.

He felt himself begin to walk faster, eager to return to the ship and get away from this place. Shiro didn’t know exactly where he was going. He hadn’t been to the Armstrong province since the war started. Everything was so different now. He paused when he found himself face to face with a door. It was worn down, not as new as everything else in town. He looked up at the sign hanging above the door. Above him the dimly glowing purple text told him he was at the town’s local bar. He knew this place, he used to come here some nights when he visited the moon. He skimmed the bottom text on the sign to find the building was the same, but under new management. He sighed and pulled the door open before stepping inside.

He was immediately hit by a cloud of smoke, the smell staining the air, leaving a permanent stench behind. Shiro coughed and waved the smoke out of his face before scanning the bar nervously. There didn’t appear to be any galra, but it didn’t look like there were any jobs either.

Shiro was surprised at the lack of galra here, considering there was a massive base nearby. It was known for being one of the most secure galra bases in existence. Shiro didn’t even want to know how many prisoners were being held there. He couldn’t wait to get out of this system.

It was then that his gaze fell on a young human sitting at a table in the back of the bar. His eyes were rotating between watching the bar, the clock, and the door. He looked no older than Lance, and it seemed like he wanted to get out even more than Shiro did. Shiro made his way over to the table before he sat down across from him.

“Um, can I help you?” The boy raised an eyebrow in question. His body seemed to tense up when Shiro sat down. His hand reached down towards his belt, presumably for a weapon. Shiro glanced down at where the hand had disappeared before looking back up to watch the boy’s face.

“That depends,” Shiro stated, keeping his hands flat on the table. “You looking for a ride somewhere?”

His eyes narrowed and looked around quickly before leaning closer across the table. His voice dropped to a whisper as is intense gaze met Shiro’s. “How much to get out of this system?”

“2500 GAC.” Shiro said flatly, watching the boy’s face carefully. “Anywhere past that will be additional.”

He leaned back in his seat, silent. Shiro began to worry he was charging too much. In other areas of the galaxy 2500 GAC was pocket change, but here in the Armstrong province it was a month’s salary. However, after a few moments of consideration, the boy nodded and extended his hand. “Deal.”

Shiro grasped his hand with his robotic arm, giving it a firm shake. “You got a name?”

“Keith.” He released Shiro’s hand, visibly relaxing. “My name is Keith.”

 


	2. Box of Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance's POV

**Chapter Two - Box of Secrets**

 

“Keith, huh?” Lance eyed the passenger suspiciously.  “I don’t like this guy.”

Shiro smacked Lance’s bicep and lowered his voice. “Do _not_ mess this up.” He turned back to face Keith. “You’ll have to excuse our pilot, he’s a bit...eccentric.”

Lance rolled his eyes and stepped up next to Shiro. “So, _Keith_. What will you be transporting?” He ignored the glare from Shiro, keeping his eyes fixed on Keith. There was definitely something off about this guy. Lance could tell.

“Myself,” Keith shrugged. “And that.” He nodded in the direction of a large box sitting in the middle of the cargo bay. Lance tilted his head, trying to get a better view of the package. Only a small bit of the box could be seen from underneath a large tarp. The only thing Lance could discern was that the box was made of metal.

Lance began to walk towards the package. “What’s inside it?”

Keith quickly stepped between Lance and the container. “Nothing,” Keith locked eyes with Lance. “Just some supplies.”

Lance turned to face Shiro and crossed his arms. “You’re telling me _that_ isn’t suspicious at all?”

Shiro ignored the question. “It’s 17:04, Lance. Let’s go.”

Lance shot one last glare at Keith, pointing two fingers at his eyes, and then at Keith who rolled his eyes as Lance left the room. Lance shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked to the control room. He scoffed after a moment and began muttering to himself.

“Oh sure, random, strange mullet head guy, please come onto our ship with your mysterious box.” He walked into the pilot bay and slumped down into the pilot’s seat, prepping the ship for takeoff. “It’s not like you’re suspicious or anything, Lance is just _paranoid_.”

The sound of the ship’s engine whirring filled the control room as the ship slowly rose off the ground. The vessel began to rise higher and higher until the ground was no longer visible and Lance was surrounded by clouds. Lance took a deep breath and tried to focus on the sunset as he flew higher, but he felt his hands tighten on the controls as annoyance took over any semblance of peace he had.

Lance puffed out his chest and began talking in the deepest voice he could muster. “My name is Shiro and I’ve only known Keith for 5 minutes but I’m gonna trust him more than Lance because he has _money_ .” Lance let out a sigh and sank further into his seat as he began to steer the ship towards the upper atmosphere. “Son of a bitch.”   _At least we’re getting off this rock and back into space where we belong_.

Lance typed in coordinates to get them out of the solar system and leaned back in his chair as the ship left the upper atmosphere and entered space. He exhaled slowly as the space around them darkened. The view from outside slowly transitioned from an evening sky to a sky full of stars. No matter how many times he sat here the beauty of space would always take his breath away.

“You’re right, you know.” Shiro’s voice cut through the silence, causing Lance to jump.

He spun around in his chair to find Shiro leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed. “Shiro? How long have you been standing there?” He asked nervously.

“Long enough.” Shiro said calmly. He walked up to the control panels and sat down in the co-pilot’s seat. He let out a sigh and leaned back in his seat, looking out at the vast reaches of space. “Something’s off about Keith. I want you to keep an eye on him.”

Lance felt himself blinking as he sat in silence, processing Shiro’s words. “Wait, really?” He turned to face Shiro, tapping his fingers nervously on his knee. A wave of relief washed over him when Shiro glanced at him and nodded.

“You’ve been flying for a long time,” He began. “You deserve a break.”

Lance grinned and quickly stood up. He raised his arm up and flipped a switch, sending the main controls over to the co-pilot’s panel. He pulled his jacket on and began walking towards the door before Shiro changed his mind.

“Don’t get into any fights, Lance.” Shiro called after him.

Lance waved his hand dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, sure. I’ve got some spy stuff to do. Later.” He quickened his pace as he made his way to the engine room. This was an important mission, after all, he needed all the reinforcements he could get.

“Hunk, my man.” Lance smirked as he swung around the corner into the engine room. “I’ve got a job for us.”

Hunk looked up from what he was working on to view Lance. He swallowed nervously once he saw the expression on his best friend’s face. “Oh no.”

 

\--------------

 

There were several hallways breaking off of the storage room, giving Lance and Hunk plenty of places to hide and watch their guest. The hall that lead to the engine room was at a slight angle, giving them more cover. Lance watched Keith suspiciously as they entered hour one of their stakeout.

“Are you sure about this, Lance?” Hunk asked nervously as he peered around the corner into the cargo bay.  “Shiro actually told you to do this?”

“Yeah, of course, man.” Lance watched Keith carefully. _Look at him, just leaning against that box, thinking he’s so cool_.

“I find that hard to believe.” Hunk muttered, sitting down and leaning back against the wall. “I think you’re being way too suspicious, Lance. I mean, sure, he’s shady but what do you think he is? A galra spy?”

“I dunno, maybe?” Lance whispered, keeping his gaze fixed on Keith. He honestly didn’t know what he thought Keith was, he just knew something was off. Lance leaned further into the room when he saw Keith begin to lift the tarp off the box. “Dude, he’s about to do something.”

Lance felt Hunk’s presence behind him as he peered around the corner. Keith folded the tarp halfway across the box before stopping. Lance eyed the box suspiciously. It was definitely not regular cargo. It was made of metal, which he had previously noted, but it had an extra section jutting out at the front of the box where Keith was. It almost looked like it had a control panel. Keith knelt down and pressed a few of the buttons, causing a small screen next to the panel to light up. Lance watched as Keith began to read whatever was on the screen.

“You’re telling me _that_ isn’t suspicious?” Lance turned to Hunk, who was now staring at this stranger intently.

“Ok,” Hunk breathed out. “This is super freaky.”

“We’ve gotta report back to Shiro.” Lance started to stand up when he was stopped by Hunk.

“Wait,” Hunk pointed back into the cargo bay. “I think he’s talking to it.”

“What?” Lance peered back into the room to watch. Keith was still crouched down next to the box, but he wasn’t looking at the screen anymore. His mouth was moving but he was too far away for Lance to hear him. _If only Allura were here._

“What did he say?” Lance asked as Keith stood up and pulled the tarp back over the box. He glanced up at Hunk, who was still squinting into the cargo bay.

“I don’t know, I couldn’t hear him.” Hunk whispered, keeping his gaze fixed on the box. “I tried reading his lips though. All I could make out was ‘I’m sorry’ or something.”

“Sorry? Why is he apologizing to a box?” Lance looked at Keith again. He was standing near the box and glancing around nervously.

“I have no idea.” Hunk turned to face Lance. “But I have a plan. I’m going to go out there and distract him. While I do that, you get a closer look at the box.”

“Got it.” Lance ducked out of the hallway into the cargo bay and pressed against the wall as Hunk walked out into the bay. Hunk’s footsteps echoed throughout the room, drawing Keith’s attention away from Lance. He quickly ducked behind a stack of boxes and watched as Hunk approached Keith.

“Hey, Keith, right?” Hunk asked, extending his hand. “My name’s Hunk, I’m the mechanic.”

Keith hesitantly turned away from the box and shook Hunk’s hand. “Yeah...nice to meet you.”

“Has anyone given you a tour of the ship yet?” Hunk asked. “I could take you if you want.”

“No, I’m good right here, but thanks.” Keith gave Hunk a little wave, trying to send him off.

“Well let me tell you about the ship then.” Hunk said quickly as Keith started to turn back around. Keith sighed and turned back to face him. “I’ll start with the engine room, that’s where I work.”

Lance quietly slipped past Hunk and Keith to the box, keeping an ear out for Hunk being cut off. So far it seemed like Keith was content letting Hunk talk about the engine, or he was too polite to tell Hunk to shut up. Lance couldn’t listen to Hunk when he started talking about this kind of stuff, it made no sense to him.

 _Alright, Lance. Focus._ Lance turned his attention back to the box. It was bigger up close, probably big enough to fit him inside. He cast one last glance at Hunk and Keith before pulling the tarp off of the container. It fell silently to the floor, and Lance felt relieved knowing nobody heard him. The package was rounder than he originally thought. It still maintained a rectangular shape, but it curved outward on the thinner sides of the box. The corners of the box seemed reinforced by a different kind of metal that jutted out past the box walls before curving back in. It was a unique shape, to say the least.

He began to inspect it, running his hand over the top and feeling the cool metal against his skin. He knelt down to inspect the control panel. There was a wide array of buttons sitting together on a panel next to a screen. The buttons and knobs on the control panel were unfamiliar to him. They looked like controls, but what would anyone need to control inside a box?

Lance avoided the buttons and turned his attention to the screen. The top of the screen showed the current date and time, which wasn’t too unusual. The rest of the screen is what intrigued him. The screen had a timer counting down, currently at 36:17, an internal temperature monitor, a second temperature much higher than the first, an oxygen level, and at the bottom there was some kind of chart. It was continually changing, but it seemed to be repeating the same pattern.

Lance shrugged as he moved further down the box. The two thinner sides of the container didn’t have anything notable aside from the strange shape. It wasn’t until Lance made it to the back of the box that he found what he had been looking for.

He stood up quickly, drawing his gun and pointing it at Keith, who tensed at the sound of the gun clicking. “Don’t move.”

Keith spun around to face Lance, pulling a knife out of thin air. Hunk quickly stepped away from him. “Get away from the box.”

Lance scoffed. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you not to bring a knife to a gunfight?”

“Lance,” Hunk’s voice wavered. “What’s going on?”

Before Lance could respond Keith was sprinting forward. He jumped over the box to where Lance stood, swinging his knife at the gun. Lance quickly stepped to the side and Keith slid by him. Lance turned to face Keith but was caught by surprise when Keith kicked his leg forward and hit his knee.

Lance winced as he fell down onto one knee and quickly aimed his pistol at Keith again. He fired a single shot and knocked the knife out of Keith’s hand. Keith’s eyes widened as the knife fell to the ground and slid several feet away. Lance stood back up and began to approach Keith before he was punched in the face. He stumbled back but quickly recovered as Keith turned to go after his knife.

Lance lunged forward and tackled Keith to the ground, spinning his arm behind his back and pinning him to the floor. The room fell silent, filled only by the boys’ panting. Lance flipped the hair out of his face and glared down at Keith.

“Game over, mullet.”

 


	3. Open the Box

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Allura's POV

**Chapter Three - Open the Box**

 

The sound of a gunshot woke Allura from her sleep. A small gasp escaped her lungs as she bolted upright and scanned the room frantically for the source of the sound, but found she was alone. Everything was as it should be. Curtains and drapes covered the metal walls, and windows, soft carpeting covered the floor, and pillows sat in chairs and small piles around the room. Her dresser displayed an array of candles and crystals from different balmera she had visited, and the smell of lavender filled the air. All was calm, serene even.

She felt herself start to relax until she was hit by a wave of fear. Being altean, Allura had some senses that humans don’t. Being a royal altean made those abilities even stronger. Allura was an empath, and could feel the emotions of those around her. The addition of altean magic in her veins made using her abilities exhausting. It was overwhelming sometimes, but she managed. Allura tossed her blankets off of her, rising out of bed. Something was very wrong. Her ears flicked as she heard shouting coming from the cargo bay.

She pushed her door open and stepped out onto the balcony. On the floor below she saw Hunk standing next to Shiro a few feet away from Lance, who had Keith pinned down on the floor.   Allura descended the stairs towards the rest of the crew, wrinkling her nose as she approached. The mix of emotions in the room made the air thick, it was hard to breathe. As she got closer she noticed a trail of blood dripping down Lance’s chin, forming a small pool on the floor next to Keith’s head.

“Lance.” Allura felt a wave of anger coming off of Shiro as he spoke. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Look at the box.” Lance’s voice was cold and distant. He kept his eyes fixed on Keith.

“Lance,” Shiro stepped forward to pull him up, but froze when Lance’s intense gaze met his.

Lance’s voice lowered even more. “Look. At. The. Box.”

Allura knew Shiro well. She knew that normally he would pull Lance up and tell him to leave. Normally Shiro would help Keith up and apologize for his crew’s behavior. Normally he wouldn’t even look in the direction of the box, but this wasn’t normal. Whatever Lance had seen warranted his actions.

Shiro glanced back at Allura before walking over to inspect the container. Allura let her curiosity get the best of her and approached the box as well. Shiro was busy inspecting some sort of control panel on the side. His hand hovered over the buttons as he scanned them. He glanced at the screen before looking over at Keith.

“This is pretty high tech for a box. What’s in it?” He questioned.

Lance spoke up before Keith could respond. “Look at the back.”

Allua watched as Shiro paced around the side of the box. His expression remained neutral until he reached the back. Allura frowned as Shiro’s face fell. She tried not to make a face as Shiro’s anxiety hit her like a wave of nausea. Allura quickly stepped around the box and placed her hand on Shiro’s shoulder, prepared to calm him if necessary.

Allura watched Shiro’s face carefully. His eyes looked distant as he stared ahead. She followed Shiro’s gaze to the container before she felt herself freeze up. Dimly glowing in front of her - on the safety of the ship, in her home - was the purple insignia of the galra empire.

 

\--------------

 

The cargo bay was silent. Allura couldn’t remember the last time the ship was this quiet. Everyone was standing several feet from Shiro, except for Keith who was now handcuffed to a support beam near Lance. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him. He had tricked all of them and brought galran cargo aboard their ship. He was probably galra himself. They can’t be trusted.

There were too many emotions in the room for Allura to be able to read one clearly. All she knew was that everyone was upset. She couldn’t blame them either, everyone on the ship despised the empire. They had come together because of it. The empire had taken so much from each of them that they decided they couldn’t let it happen to anyone else. And now here they were with the empire’s property in their home.

She turned her attention back to Shiro after he let out a sigh. “Alright,” he said quietly. “Let’s open the box.”

“No!” Keith’s voice wavered as he shouted across the room. “It can’t be opened yet, you have to trust me!”

“ _Trust_ you? After you pulled this?” Allura felt anger boiling in the pit of her stomach and forming a lump in the back of her throat.

“Please just let me explain.” He pleaded.

“The time to explain yourself was when I drew my gun on you. It’s too late now.” Lance didn’t bother to face Keith as he spoke.

“There are only two ways you could’ve gotten a box like this.” Shiro spoke up again. “You’re either a galra spy, or a thief. Either way, this box does not belong on my ship.” He looked at Hunk. “Get it open.”

Hunk nodded and began to inspect the box. He slowly looked over the array of buttons on the front, mumbling something about galra tech being confusing.

Coran spoke up for the first time since he had entered the cargo bay. “I wonder what’s inside the box.” He tilted his head, measuring the box with his eyes. “Well a box like this could have anything in it! Weapons, war contraband, a bomb-”

Allura pulled Coran back, smacking his arm with the back of her hand. “Coran, don’t start a panic.”

Hunk’s hands froze, he quickly looked up at Shiro. “Wait, you don’t think there’s a bomb in here, do you? I mean there is something counting down on the side of it. Maybe we should just blast this box out into space.”

Allura could barely make out the sound of Keith struggling against his handcuffs after Hunk mentioned disposing of the box. The same feeling of fear she felt when she woke up came radiating off of him. _It’s not a bomb._

“No. It’s not a bomb.” She stepped forward, glancing back at Keith just in time to see relief wash over his face. The fear lingered.

“How do you know?” Hunk asked nervously.

“Hunk,” Shiro’s voice managed to hide how irritated he was. “Just open the box.”

Allura watched as Hunk carefully stopped the timer, falling back when the box let out a loud beep. Allura helped Hunk up off the floor as the box began to open. A small hissing sound filled the room as the cover lifted up and off the container.  Clouds of cold air exited the box and slithered around the floor like fog.

Allura could hear Keith quietly cursing from the corner he was in. That was all the motivation she needed to step forward and look inside. She peered curiously over the side of the container, gripping the edge to avoid falling in.

“Shiro…” She breathed out, slowly turning to look at the captain. “You need to see this.”

The rest of the crew seemed to get over their hesitation and walked forward in unison to look inside the box. The room fell silent again, Keith had stopped struggling now that the box was open. Allura could see why, the cat was out of the bag. Well the secret was out of the box. Lance was the first one to break the silence.

“Holy shit.” His voice was barely above a whisper. “Is...is that a person?”

Nobody needed to answer the question, their shocked silence was its own answer. Inside the box was a human, curled up into a ball, clearly in a deep sleep. Allura could feel traces of fear and pain radiating off of her, whatever happened was able to linger through a deep stasis.

Allura kept her gaze fixed on the sleeping human. She was young, too young to be caught up in whatever this was. Her hair was long and messy as if it hadn’t been brushed in months. She had scrapes and bruises dotting up her arms and legs. She had a plain purple tunic on, tattered around the edges. Allura assumed it was a prison robe.

The girl looked peaceful despite the emotions Allura felt coming from her. She wanted to reach into the box and wake the girl up, tell her she’s safe now, but Allura knew better than to interrupt a stasis. They would have to wait for her to wake up.

“You.” Shiro spoke for the first time since the box opened. He walked over to Keith, doing his best to stay calm. “What the _hell_ is going on here?”

Keith kept his gaze fixed on the box. “It’s a long story…”

“Start talking.” Shiro ordered.

Keith’s voice was working hard to hide his desperation. “Look, before I tell you we need to-”

“ _We_ aren’t doing anything.” Allura glowered. “Do you even realize the situation you’re in?”

“Of course I do!” Keith argued. “You guys have no idea-”

Shiro cut him off. “Explain why you are transporting a person in a box right now or I’m throwing you in the brig and leaving you on the next planet we find.”

“Okay, okay,” Keith sighed. “About a week ago...”

A small groan caught Allura’s attention and pulled her away from Keith. She looked down into the box to see the girl shifting around in her sleep. She was entering the end stage of stasis. She would be waking up any minute.

“Shiro,” Allura called over. “She’s waking up.”

Shiro sighed and Allura felt another wave of anxiety come from him. He walked back over to the box and looked in just in time to see the girl’s eyes flash open. She let out a gasp and sat up quickly. She scanned the room frantically, and Allura felt a fluctuation of panic radiate off of her.

“Hey, it’s okay, we’re not gonna hurt you.” Shiro extended his hand to help her out of the box, only to have his arm smacked away as the girl climbed out of the container.

She fell over the side and landed on her hands and knees. Her breathing was shaky, and her arms were struggling to keep her up. Coran stepped forward to attempt to calm her. His magic was nowhere near as strong as Allura’s, but he could still try.

“Shh, it’s alright,” He was cut off by the girl punching him in the face.

“Coran!” Allura hurried over to him as he stumbled back, gripping his nose.

Lance quickly grabbed the girl, holding her tightly. She started to scream as she struggled, trying to kick and bite him.

“I’m fine,” Coran murmured. “Just help Lance.”

Allura walked over to Lance who was somehow managing to hold this girl in place despite her attempts at escaping. Allura took a deep breath before putting her hands on either side of the girl’s head. “You’re safe now, dear. Just relax.”

The markings on Allura’s cheeks started to glow as she focused. The glow slowly ran down the markings on her arms to her hands as she began to calm the girl down. Her body slowly began to relax, she stopped struggling and looked at Allura sadly before she fell onto her knees. Lance let out a sigh of relief and slowly loosened his grip on her.

“I already told you I’m not gonna work for you.” She breathed out. “What have you done with my brother?”

Lance frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Pidge, it’s okay, calm down.” Keith called across the room, causing her to look at him. “They’re not galra. You’re safe now, okay?”

The human, apparently named Pidge, relaxed at the sight of Keith. “Keith…” Her voice trailed off for a moment before she refocused. “We got out?”

“Yes, we got out. We’ll look for Matt as soon as we get out of this mess, okay?” Keith gave Pidge a little reassuring smile, and it was like a switch inside her got flipped.

Allura felt her body relax as the overwhelming feelings consuming this child left her. She looked over at Shiro, who simply nodded at her. They would ask questions later. Right now, Pidge needed help. Allura gently pulled Pidge up off the floor and caught her as she stumbled forward. Her legs were barely able to hold herself up. Allura gently brushed the hair out of Pidge’s face before leading her towards the balcony stairs.

Pidge looked back at Keith as Allura lead her away. She attempted to pull away from Allura and go to him, but Allura stopped her before she could.

Allura spoke softly as she walked Pidge up the stairs. “You need to get some nice, warm clothes and a real bed. You can see him later.”

Allura honestly didn’t know what was going to happen later. They had no idea what was going on. All she knew was that she could help Pidge, so that was all she cared about. Untold amounts of suffering are brought onto those captured by the galra, and if she could do anything to help she would.


	4. The Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith's POV

**Chapter Four - The Escape**

 

The handcuffs clattered to the floor, echoing throughout the cargo bay. Keith rubbed the sore marks on his wrists, thankful that the cold metal was no longer digging into his skin. He took a deep breath and stood up before dusting his clothes off. He looked up to find the crew collectively staring him down. 

“Look, I can explain everything.” He began. “But before I do you need to know something.”

Shiro cut him off before he could finish. “No. Explain yourself right now.”

_ They need to know. You have to tell them now. _ “We need to get out of this system.”

“We’re working on it.” Lance’s voice didn’t hide how impatient he was. Keith was walking on thin ice here. He’d have to tell them the whole story before he could warn them.

Keith let out a sigh. “Fuck. Fine, is there somewhere we can sit down? This is gonna take a while.”

“The kitchen.” Allura’s voice called from the balcony, she descended the steps slowly. “There are enough seats for everyone there.” Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Keith. “I want to hear the whole story. Every single detail.”

Keith shifted uncomfortably under Allura’s gaze before glancing up at the balcony. “Is Pidge okay?”

“She’s asleep. In a bed instead of a box.” Allura’s voice was cold enough to bring the temperature of the room down 3 degrees. She flipped her hair as she walked past Shiro towards the kitchen. “Let’s go.”

Shiro gestured for Lance and Keith to follow him before walking after Allura. Lance kept his eyes on Keith as he walked after Shiro, soon following at the end of the line. Keith didn’t notice at first, but Shiro and Lance deliberately walked in front and behind him to ensure he wouldn’t run. There was no way he was leaving without Pidge, he promised, but the notion that he was trapped wasn’t exactly welcome news.

As Keith stepped into the kitchen he noticed Hunk and Coran were already there. Their eyes didn’t hold as much anger as the rest of the crew, but they clearly held disdain for him too. Keith’s stomach was in knots as he sat down under the gazes of the crew. With Pidge out of the room he was all by himself.

He took a deep breath and placed his hands on the table. “Like I said earlier, it started about a week ago…”

 

\--------------

 

Keith let out a sigh as he completed his third sweep of the south corridor. Everything was exactly as it had been the past two times he walked around. He had been stationed at this base for five months now. Normally soldiers got a change of venue every few weeks, but this place was different. Once someone was placed here, they stayed here.

Keith figured that was part of the reason he was here. He didn’t have the best reputation under the galra guard program due to his status as half-galra. They probably assigned him to this spot to be rid of him. He sighed again as he began his fourth sweep of the south corridor. Just as he was going to turn the corner he heard a familiar voice behind him.

“You. Half-breed. Get over here.”

He turned around to find himself facing one of the lieutenants stationed on the base. He was normally stationed on the battle cruiser that patrolled the sector, but it looked like he was filling in for someone else today.

Keith made his way over to the lieutenant. “Yes, Sir?” He did his best to hold his tongue, reminding himself that any disrespect to authority could lead to execution. He had a checkered past when it came to discipline, the other guards were just waiting for him to finally snap and throw away his last chance.

“We’re short staffed today,” The lieutenant began. “I need you to guard lab 5.”

Keith sighed and briefly saluted before making his way towards the base’s labs. He hated when he was assigned to guard the labs. The druids were always experimenting on prisoners and he couldn’t stand the screaming.

He had gone his whole life being told that the empire was good. It was to be trusted, and never questioned. It had been drilled into his head ever since he was a child. But if the empire was so good why were they torturing people? He understood that they had to imprison rebels due to insubordination being illegal, but torture seemed extreme to him.  _ You’ll end up like them if you don’t stop thinking like this. _

Keith quickly shook his head and began to refocus on the task at hand. Guarding lab 5. He turned the corner to find himself facing two hooded figures. He slowed down, eyeing the druids suspiciously. It was rare for more than one druid to work on a prisoner at a time. This didn’t feel right. As he got closer the feeling of unease intensified.

The taller druid seemed to notice his presence and lean down to whisper to the other. With a brief nod the second druid began to walk away. Keith’s head tilted curiously as they left. Normally druid’s heads are covered but he could’ve sworn he saw strands of white hair sticking out of the hood. He couldn’t be certain without a closer look, and that wasn’t happening anytime soon.

Keith turned his attention back to the remaining druid. This one appeared to be the same as the druids he had seen before. The same dark robes and white mask covered any features he might’ve had. Keith extended his hand in greeting.

“Um, hello, my name’s-”

“We have no time for pleasantries.” The druid spoke, typing the code to the lab door. His voice was low and had a slight reverb from the mask.

“Right, sorry.” Keith shuffled back and forth on his feet awkwardly as the door slid open. “Um, I didn’t get a chance to read the prisoner’s file. Is there anything I should know?”

Occasionally prisoners had important information in their files, which made reading them vital for guarding them. Keith didn’t want to be unprepared because he wasn’t aware of a prisoner’s skill set.

“That information is classified.” The druid paused for a moment. “She has escaped several times in the past. Do not let it happen again.” Without another word he walked into the room, leaving Keith out in the hallway.

Keith remained for a moment in stunned silence. He had never heard of a prisoner with classified information before. Much less a prisoner who had managed to escape  _ multiple times _ . He entered the room quietly and stood by the door, waiting patiently for the prisoner to arrive.

“You are not to tell anyone what you see here today, do you understand?” The druid asked from across the room as he began to set up. Keith nodded quickly but remained silent. Keith found himself examining the room, taking note of all the details. The walls were lined with shelves and strange machines he’d never seen before. The room was dimly lit aside from the bright light in the center that shone down upon an odd looking table.  He watched as the druid moved some sort of machine over to the metal table in the center of the room. The druid positioned it at the end of the table before grabbing a small cylinder from a shelf on the wall. The cylinder looked familiar. It was made of glass with metal at the ends, and it was filled with some kind of glowing purple liquid. The druid placed the cylinder into an opening on the machine with a small click and flipped a switch, turning it on.

“What is that?” Keith cringed the second the question left his mouth.

“That’s not important.” The druid hissed. He flipped a few more switches on the machine. “Just something we’re  _ wasting _ on prisoners.”

Just as the machine began to buzz with power the door hissed and slid open. Light from the hallway illuminated the room, making it much brighter than before. Keith looked over and watched as another guard stepped into the room. He turned back to the door and growled.

“Come  _ on _ .” He pulled on something roughly and a young girl stumbled in behind him. She was struggling against his grip but couldn’t break free. Keith felt himself freeze as he stared at her. She was human, like him. He’d only seen one other human before when he was very young, but until now the only human he knew of was himself.

The girl was pushed further into the room by another guard who walked in behind her. The door slid shut and the room darkened once again. Keith swallowed nervously as the druid turned his attention to her.

“It looks like you’ve recovered since our last meeting. Good.” Her entire body froze up, her eyes widened in fear. The druid’s cloak dragged across the floor as he approached her. “I was worried you weren’t going to be ready.”

She shivered as the druid tilted her head up. “You don’t have to keep fighting, you know. You could end this. All of this can stop if you just agree to work with us.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to regain her composure. “Fuck you.”

With a sigh the druid let go of her. “So be it.” He nodded at the guards who pulled her along to the center of the room. She struggled against them as they restrained her to the table, giving a salute before departing.

Keith frowned as he watched the scene unfold. This wasn’t right. The druids never ask rebels to work for them. They ask for base locations and raid plans. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he was starting to understand why her information was classified.

The druid attached two wires to the machine. She looked over at Keith pleadingly as the druid brushed the hair out of her face. He placed the other ends of the wires, which had metal discs, on her temples. 

Keith looked away guiltily as the druid turned a dial on the side of the machine, sending bolts of electricity down the wires. He shifted back and forth on his feet until a bright purple flash drew his attention back to the table. The liquid in the cylinder slowly began to drain into the machine which was soon followed by screaming.

Keith cringed at the sound. He tried to look away again but his eyes betrayed him and stayed focused on the scene in front of him. The sparks running down the wires had turned purple and were being sent directly into the girl’s head. The screaming soon ceased as her body tensed from shocks. Her mouth remained open but the only sounds escaping were pained gasps as she was repetitively electrocuted. Her eyes fluttered as she began to lose consciousness. Blood began to drip from her nose as the last of the cylinder emptied. The shocks soon stopped and her body slumped back against the table.

The druid seemed satisfied and removed the discs from her head. He unrestrained her and looked over at Keith. “Bring her back to her cell.”

Keith could only nod as he walked forward and scooped the girl up into his arms. He walked out of the room in silence and began making his way down the hall. He had seen many of the druid’s methods before, even electrocution, but he never saw anything like this.

His body felt rigid as her carried her down the hallway. This wasn’t right. All his life he’d been taught the empire was good. The rebels were the bad guys. Right? Keith stopped when he made it to the end of the hallway.

A small voice came from just below his shoulder. “Matt?” Keith looked down to see the girl looking up at him, her eyes were clouded and she looked exhausted.

He swallowed the lump in his throat. “No, my name’s Keith.” He continued walking, glancing down occasionally. He tried to continue the walk in silence but the question kept biting at his tongue, trying to escape. “Who’s Matt?”

“‘S my brother…” Her eyes closed. “I’ve been lookin’ for him for so long.” She was starting to lose consciousness, resting her head on his shoulder. “I’m gonna find him, even if it kills me.”

Keith cringed and took a deep breath. He had finally made up his mind about the empire. After a lifetime of lies and deception he realized the truth. After all the wrongs the empire had committed, he owed it to the universe to do what’s right. “We’re gonna find him.”

Her eyes opened again, she looked up at him sleepily. “Huh?”

“I’m getting you out of here.” Keith sounded more confident than he felt. He had no idea what he was doing but before he could think he was turned around and walking towards the cargo bay. There was no way he could just carry her out of here, but if she was in a box he might be able to get out before they noticed she was gone.

“You are?” Her voice cracked. “But you don’t even know me.”

“I do now. And I know I’d rather help you than the people torturing you.”

She smiled weakly. “Thank you, Keith.” Her voice trailed off as she slipped in and out of consciousness.

Keith stepped into the cargo bay and looked around for a container. He heaved a sigh of relief when he saw an empty stasis pod sitting nearby. He walked over to it and shifted the girl over his shoulder as he lifted the cover off.

“What’s your name?” He asked as he lowered her into the pod.

She was silent for a while, and Keith was worried she had fainted. “Pidge…” Her voice was barely audible. “My name’s Pidge.”

“Alright, Pidge. You’re gonna take a nap now, okay? When you wake up we’ll be out of here.” Keith began to inspect the pod for any external trackers but didn’t find any.

“M’kay…” She murmured as she closed her eyes.

Keith smiled softly as he covered the box. He knelt down and began to set up the regulators. Once all her vitals were in check he began to set the timer. It would take about two days to make it to the Armstrong province nearby. They could hire a ship to get them out of the system from there, but that could take days. Then getting out of the system from there would take at least 12 hours. He set the timer for five days just to be safe. 

The second this box opened again the galra would be able to track it, but if they were out of the system before it opened the base wouldn’t be notified until the box registered the closest galra ship and sent a signal to them.

He noticed a tarp on the floor and quickly pulled it over the box. Nobody would be able to see it was a stasis pod if it was covered. All he had to do was make it to the escape pods undetected. He took a deep breath as he pushed the box towards the door. “Alright, it’s showtime.”

 


	5. Caged Bird

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pidge's POV

**Chapter Five - Caged Bird**

 

 

_ Accessing Prisoner Files...17%.  _ Pidge tapped her fingers impatiently against the desk she was crouched behind. Infiltrating a galra base was never on her bucket list, yet here she was. Hacking into the prisoner database to find proof her dead brother was still out there somewhere. The base was small compared to most, making it easier to sneak into. She had made it past the security system, but somebody could still walk in at any moment.

_ Accessing Prisoner Files...56%.  _ One month before the war ended a soldier showed up at her house and told her mother that her family was lost in battle. Her father’s body was burned up, but salvageable. Matt’s body was never found. If she found proof that Matt had been taken prisoner by the galra she’d be able to search for him and bring him home.

_ Accessing Prisoner Files...94% _ . Pidge glanced at the door nervously before returning her attention to the loading screen. A small ping notified her that the computer was done loading. She leaned forward in anticipation as the screen quickly scanned through its database. Pictures of various prisoners flashed across the screen as it searched for Matt. A lump began to form in her throat as the scan continued. Matt wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be dead. She knew he had to be in here somewhere, but as the scan began to reach its end she felt her hope fading.

She had scanned through 73% of the database before the flashing images in front of her froze, and a picture of Matt appeared in front of her. She felt her breath catch in her throat. He was alive. She was unable to hold back tears as they ran down her cheeks. She quickly wiped her eyes and saved Matt’s file to her computer.  _ You’ve gotta get out of here before you get caught. _

Pidge wiped all proof of her presence from the base’s system before placing her computer back into her bag. She cautiously made her way over to the door and pressed her ear against it, listening for guards. She was able to make out footsteps of a patrolling guard as they echoed down the hallway, but they slowly became distant and the hallway fell silent.

She heaved a sigh of relief and pulled a stolen keycard from her bag before swiping it across the access panel and opening the door into the hall. Pidge slipped out into the hallway and began to make her way through the maze of hallways to the main doorway of the base. If she remembered correctly, the exit should be just around the corner.

Pidge turned the corner to find herself standing in front of one of the base’s guards. Her eyes widened as she watched the guard’s hand slam into a button on the wall and trigger the alarm. She had accounted for absolutely everything in this base. She had disabled the trap triggers, hacked the motion sensors, turned the thermal cameras off, stolen an all access keycard, memorized patrol patterns, she even brought an EMP device she built in case she ran into any sentries. The last thing she expected to encounter was a guard off of patrol. The galra were always so cautious with security, she didn’t see it coming.

Pidge began sprinting towards the exit until she found herself running towards more guards summoned by the alarms. She’d have to escape through the emergency exit. She turned around quickly and began running the other way, skirting around the guard that had caught her. The emergency exit was 3 halls away. She could make it, and then she’d find Matt, and everything would be okay.

Her breath came in shallow pants as she ran as fast as she could, sliding between a guard’s legs, dodging gunshots, shoulder rolling around corners. A smile spread across her face as she saw the exit. She was going to make it. She was going to find Matt. She was going to bring him home. She-

A sudden, sharp pain came from her leg. Pidge looked down to see some sort of dart stuck in her thigh. She quickly pulled it out and held it up to her face as she ran. It looked like it was built to dispense some kind of liquid into its target, but this dart was empty. That’s just pointless, why would they fire an empty dart... _ Oh. Wow it is really bright in here. Is the room spinning? Yeah, it’s definitely spinning, watch out for that wall. Pidge, don’t walk into the w- _

\--------------

When Pidge woke up and realized she’d been caught she expected her mother to show up and scold her. She expected a trial or a prison sentence. She expected the normal consequences for trespassing on government property. She got so much more.

Her intrusion had impressed the empire. They wanted to know how she managed to get past their security. They wanted to know how she built everything she was carrying with her. They wanted to know how she hacked the most advanced computer system in the galaxy. They didn’t want to punish her, they wanted her to work for them. They told her of their goals. How they planned to use her. “The empire could use a mind like yours.” They’d say. With her they could upgrade galra tech to new extremes. The most powerful weapons, the fastest ships, the strongest sentries, the possibilities were endless. The only problem was that Pidge refused work for them no matter what they did.

They started with bribes and persuasion. They gave her the best accommodations they could muster. They promised her fame, they promised fortune, they promised power. Nothing they offered seemed to sway her. Her knowledge seemed limitless. She was constantly learning, adapting, achieving. She met with scientists daily who would run tests on her brain. She passed every test they threw at her. No matter how they tried to outsmart her she always managed to impress them.

The empire started to become more desperate. The longer she refused, the more desperate they became. They moved from persuasion to threats. They told her she’d be executed but the thought didn’t scare her. They told her they’d find and kill her family, and they swore for a moment they saw her crack, but she continued to hold her ground. They promised her they would make her life a living hell. She just smiled. “Bring it on.”

They started small with interrogating her for hours on end, forcing her to overexert herself to the point of exhaustion, but nothing worked. She ended each session with a snarky comment, reveling in the anger of the druids as they failed to break her.

The empire decided to kick it up a notch and moved on to torture. They forced her head under water until she nearly drowned. They left her in a freezing cold cell for hours at a time, struggling to stay warm. They kept her awake for days at a time, forcing her to solve complex puzzles until the sleep deprivation was too much. They pressed red hot irons into her skin, marking her as property of the galra empire. They pumped her full of drugs and left her alone with vivid hallucinations. But even after 8 months of absolute hell, she still refused to work for them.

It was then that they began to give up. After several escape attempts over her imprisonment they began to get nervous she would succeed and use her mind against them. Their plan for her changed. “If we can’t use your mind, we’re going to have to destroy it.” Powerful magic was sent in surges through her skull to her brain in an attempt to erase any information she might have stored. It did not work as they planned.

The magic only seemed to increase her brainpower. With each session with the druids she knew more, but also grew more unstable. She was subject to breakdowns, as if she held too much information in her head. She would write out complicated equations on the walls of her cell just to get them off her mind. One morning a guard came into her cell to find the schematics for an entire spaceship drawn on the walls. She was finally giving the empire what they wanted.

\--------------

Pidge let her mind wander as she sat in her cell, staring at the writing on the walls. It was taking her a while to process it, her head felt like it was filled with a fog. It seemed like just moments ago her head felt like it was going to explode, and now here she was with strange blueprints scrawled across the cell walls.

She couldn’t go on like this. She didn’t even know what was going on anymore. She needed to get out of here. She needed to find Matt. Better yet, she needed Matt to find her. Pidge let out a sigh and curled in on herself, hugging her knees close to her chest. She felt herself begin to space out until the sound of footsteps coming down the hall pulled her back to reality.

She forced the fog out of her head as the footsteps stopped in front of her door. Muffled voices came from the outside as the door’s locks began to click out of place. Once the locks were undone the door was pushed open to reveal two guards standing outside. One of them was familiar, but she didn’t recognize the other one. Pidge raised an eyebrow as she examined him. He wasn’t in a defensive stance. He almost looked bored. Had they assigned a new guard to her?

“Seriously? This is the prisoner you were talking about?” He asked, eyeing the familiar guard suspiciously. “I was expecting somebody...bigger. It’s just a little girl.”

Pidge couldn’t help but grin at that. A brand new guard, already underestimating her. Normally she couldn’t take on two guards in this state, but with this guy she had a chance of escaping.

“Go ahead, prove me wrong.” The second guard spoke up, gesturing into the cell. He wasn’t even going to come in? This was perfect.

The new guard smirked and stepped into the cell. Pidge quickly began to examine him, scanning for any weak points in his armor. Any cracks or dents that she could utilize. She eyed the way he loosely carried his blaster. If she timed this just right…

The guard approached her and knelt down until he was at eye level. “C’mon, sweetheart, the druids are waiting for you.”

In all her time here, Pidge had never willingly gone with an escort. She supposed that was why her old guard looked surprised as she stood up on her own without having to be dragged from the room. Of course the standing was just to make sure her knee was at the same level as this new guard’s face.

She bent her leg and swung it forward, slamming her knee directly into his nose. A sickening crunch sounded as the leg and face collided, and the guard got knocked backwards, a spatter of blood hitting the wall as he fell. The blaster fell from his hand and Pidge quickly grabbed it before aiming it at the guard standing by the door.

She kept the blaster pointed at him as she stepped over the other guard’s body. Just as she was going to pull the trigger a hand grabbed her ankle and pulled her back down to the floor. Pidge let out a gasp as she hit the floor. She quickly tried to get up but the blaster was pried from her hands and she was kicked back into the wall.

Her back collided with the wall and Pidge felt like all the air left her body on impact. Her head fell back and hit the wall before she slid down onto the floor. It took a few moments for her vision to clear and reveal two guards standing over her. She attempted to catch her breath as she looked up at them.

She swallowed nervously and turned her gaze to the new guard. “Y’know, you should really get that checked out. I think your nose might be broken.”

He growled before grabbing Pidge’s arm and yanked her up off the floor. Pidge flinched as the sudden change in height caused her head to throb. Her eyes squeezed shut as she was pulled out of her cell.

After walking for what seemed like forever, Pidge looked up to see the door to lab 5 in front of her. She felt her body tense up at the sight, and she felt herself grow cold at the sight of the door opening. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t breathe, she wasn’t ready for this, she was never ready for this.

“Come  _ on _ .” Pidge was pulled into the room by the new guard. She felt herself stumble as she struggled to escape his grip. 

The door behind her closed and a familiar voice sounded from the shadows. “It looks like you’ve recovered since our last meeting. Good.”

Pidge’s body froze up. Her eyes widened as she watched the druid approach her, cloak dragging on the floor. Every part of her was telling her to run or to fight or to do  _ something _ but she couldn’t move.

“I was worried you weren’t going to be ready.” He said as he tilted her head up. She shivered at the cold touch and let her eyes fall on the expressionless white mask in front of her. “You don’t have to keep fighting, you know. You could end this. All of this can stop if you just agree to work with us.”

Pidge didn’t know why they were still trying with her. Whatever they were doing was working for them. Even so, she’d never give them the satisfaction of winning. She took a deep breath and tried to find the right words to say she’d rather die than work for them, but nothing came. She couldn’t speak, she was terrified. If she said the wrong think they might see how hard she’s trying. The last thing she needed was for them to use her words against her. “Fuck you.” She breathed out.

The druid sighed. “So be it.” Pidge struggled against the familiar sensation of being dragged to the center of the lab and strapped to the table. She shuddered as her hair was brushed away from her face and cold metal plates were placed against her temples. She looked around the room frantically for something, anything that could help her. She froze as her eyes fell on a guard she had never seen before. He wasn’t like the others, he looked  _ human _ .

Pidge’s focus was ripped away from the guard as she felt shocks being sent directly into her skull. Her head fell back against the table as the burning, stabbing pain zapped through her head. She was pretty sure she was screaming but she couldn’t hear anything. She couldn’t see anything. Soon enough she couldn’t even feel anything.

\--------------

Pidge’s vision slowly came back to her, light flooding her eyes. She squinted up at a blurry figure standing over her. She felt her heartbeat speed up. Was that...“Matt?” The blurriness started to fade, and Pidge found herself looking at a total stranger.

Not-Matt looked back at her, concern flooding his gaze. “No, my name’s Keith.” He frowned as he continued walking. “Who’s Matt?”

Pidge sighed. It was the guard from earlier. The human one. “‘S my brother…” Her eyes grew tired and slowly shut. “I’ve been lookin’ for him for so long.” She was starting to lose consciousness, resting her head on his shoulder. “I’m gonna find him, even if it kills me.”

The guard, Keith, cringed at that and took a deep breath. “We’re gonna find him.”

Pidge’s eyes opened again. She looked up at him sleepily. “Huh?”

“I’m getting you out of here.” Keith said quickly. Suddenly they were walking in a different direction, away from her cell, and for the first time in 8 months Pidge felt a semblance of hope.

Her voice cracked as she spoke. “You are? But you don’t even know me.” She couldn’t understand why this was happening but here she was, getting closer and closer to an escape.

“I do now. And I know I’d rather help you than the people torturing you.”

Pidge felt tears forming in her eyes. She smiled weakly up at him. “Thank you, Keith.” She felt herself beginning to lose consciousness, and for a moment she panicked, reminding herself she needed to escape, but the warm embrace of sleep continued to grasp at her.

“What’s your name?” Keith asked. Pidge felt herself being released from his arms and soon grew aware of walls surrounding her.

Pidge paused and she began to scan her brain. What was her name? She couldn’t remember, she was so tired. She had a name, didn’t she? Pidge was just a nickname Matt gave her, right? She felt a small smile form on her face as memories of Matt began to flood her brain. “Pidge…My name’s Pidge.”

“Alright, Pidge. You’re gonna take a nap now, okay? When you wake up we’ll be out of here.” Keith’s voice was so soft, just like her brother’s voice when she came to him after a bad dream. She liked this Keith guy. He reminded her of her family. She missed them so much.

Pidge tried to respond to Keith again. She tried to thank him, but she could barely open her mouth. “M’kay…” She murmured. Her eyelids were too heavy, they couldn’t stay open any longer. The last thing she saw before her eyes closed was the compassionate look on Keith’s face.  _ Definitely not a bad guy. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry, Pidge. I swear it's important to the plot.


	6. Visitation Rights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Allura's POV

**Chapter Six - Visitation Rights**

 

Allura loathed when the ship was silent, having only experienced this level of quiet on sleepless nights and stressful days. It was another stressful day aboard the ship, and now the team sat around the table with their eyes trained on Keith, listening to his story. Allura rolled her eyes in disbelief. _There’s no such thing as a good galra_.

Allura turned her gaze onto Shiro, who was listening intently as Keith wrapped up. She could feel the warmth of belief flowing off of him. She could see it in his eyes. Allura grit her teeth as her hands clenched into fists.

“He’s done nothing but lie to us since he got here.” She said crossly. “Why should we believe him now?”

“What further reason would I have to lie?” Keith asked in exasperation. “Look, you don’t have to believe me but the box-”

“Oh _enough_ with the box already.” Lance groaned. “I think we’ve heard enough.”

Shiro held his hand up and the room fell silent again. “I don’t see any reason for him to be lying. I think we’ve asked enough questions today. Why don’t we rest and continue this conversation in the morning?”

Keith heaved a sigh of relief and slumped back into his chair. Allura narrowed her eyes. Something was still off about him, he was still worried about something. Allura opened her mouth to pry some more but was cut off when the ship’s alarms started blaring. Within seconds everyone was on their feet. Lance was out of the room before Allura could blink. A moment later his voice echoed over the intercom.

“Captain, a galra cruiser has locked onto us. They’re asking for permission to board.” Lance’s voice didn’t hide how stressed he was. They had managed to avoid altercations like this due to their cleverly constructed ruse. A simple cargo ship making deliveries around the galaxy. But then _Keith_ happened.

“I _told_ you we couldn’t trust him!” Allura barked at Shiro as she stormed over to Keith. She grabbed him by the front of his shirt before slamming him into the wall. “What did you tell them?” She demanded.

“I didn’t tell them anything, I swear!” Keith gasped out. “This is what I was trying to tell you about the box. After it’s opened it can be tracked!”

Allura felt a growl building up in her throat, but she sensed nothing but honesty coming from him, so she released him and let him fall to the floor. However much she disliked it, everything suddenly made sense. Him begging to keep the box closed, saying they need to get rid of it once it was opened, his desperation, everything just clicked.

Shiro cursed under his breath and made his way over to the kitchen’s intercom. “Let them board. They’ll blow us up if we refuse.” He turned to face the rest of the crew and let out a deep sigh. Allura could sense stress washing over him again, the feeling was so strong it was making her heart rate increase. “Keith, make sure Pidge is still in Allura’s room, tell her to stay there. Then come back to the kitchen, hopefully they won’t come in here. Everyone else go to the cargo bay. Prepare to be boarded.”

The crew quickly broke off, heading in different directions to prepare before making their way to the cargo bay. Allura dusted her dress off and stopped in front of one of the ship’s windows in order to examine her reflection. If she was going to be diplomatic she had to look the part. Her dress was slightly rumpled and her hair was messy, but she still looked presentable, despite recent events.

She heard the cargo bay opening and took a deep breath before making her way in. The ship had connected to the cruiser, allowing those onboard to cross over from ship to ship. Allura took her place beside Shiro and watched as two galra and five sentries marched onto the ship.

Allura felt Shiro’s body tense as he saw them, and felt her stomach turn in accordance with his reaction. She could only imagine the memories running through his head right now. She took it upon herself to step forward when Shiro remained frozen beside her. “Greetings, my name is Princess Allura of planet Altea. To what do we owe the pleasure?”

The soldiers saluted briefly after recognizing Allura’s status. “I apologize for the intrusion, Princess. My name is Commander Sendak. We’re tracking some stolen property, and our scanners say that it’s on your ship.”

Allura forced a smile onto her face and clasped her hands together. “I see. May I inquire as to what was stolen? We do a lot of transport jobs, perhaps one of our employers is the thief.”

Sendak looked surprised for a moment before he cleared his throat. “I’m afraid that information is classified.” Allura watched nervously as he scanned the cargo bay. “Is this everybody on the ship?”

“No, it’s not.” Shiro walked forward to stand next to Allura once more. Whatever fear he previously had was gone, or at least well masked. “Our pilot is still in the control room, the ship is old and allowing others to board is a manual process.”

Sendak’s eyes narrowed for a moment as he examined Shiro. “I see. It’s a nice little ship you have here. Does it have a name?” Allura could feel the tension in the air as Sendak attempted to appear non-threatening. He was failing, of course. He was at least 7 feet tall with a massive robotic arm. His existence alone was intimidating.

“Well it’s a cargo supply ship, model 057. We’ve been calling it the CSS Paladin, but it isn’t officially named.” Allura noted how Shiro attempted to derail the conversation and glanced at Sendak, hoping it would work.

“Is there anyone else on your ship?” Sendak asked, a hindrance of annoyance in his voice.

Shiro sighed and crossed his arms. “I already told you my pilot is in the control room.”

“Nobody else is on the ship.” Keith’s voice cut Shiro off as he walked into the bay and approached Sendak. Allura’s eyes narrowed as Keith walked past her.

“You. What are you doing here?” The second galra spoke up, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

Keith stopped in front of him and gave a salute. “Lieutenant Haxus, it was my fault the, um, box got stolen, so I tracked it myself. I found it but it was already empty.” Keith glanced back at Shiro and Allura with an apologetic look on his face.

A growl left Sendak’s throat. “Did you search the ship?”

“Yes, the contents aren’t anywhere on board.” Keith responded calmly. “We’ll have to keep looking.”

Allura could feel anxiety emanating from the rest of the team as they watched the scene in front of them unfold. If it was discovered that they were lying they could be captured, or worse.

Haxus’ eyes narrowed in disbelief. “It was your job to ensure the package reached its destination in the first place. If you were incompetent enough to mess that up, how do we know you’re capable of searching this ship?”

Keith swallowed nervously, and Allura could sense how hard he was trying to convince them to leave. He had to have some reason to trick them. Part of some other galra plan. She couldn’t get a clean read off of him with all of the stress in the room, which only added more stress to her body.

Allura’s focus left Keith as Shiro walked past her and stopped in front of the galra. He held his hands up defensively. “Look, we haven’t stolen anything. This one assures you that your property isn’t anywhere on board our ship. Why don’t you let us go and we’ll be on our way.”

For a moment it looked like they were considering leaving until Sendak grabbed Shiro’s arm and rolled the sleeve up, revealing the cyborg prosthetic. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the robotic arm. “I see you spent some time with the druids.” He turned his focus to Haxus. “Search the ship.”

Haxus and the sentries immediately broke off, heading in different directions to do a sweep of the ship. Haxus immediately went up the balcony steps into Allura’s room. _Oh quiznak._

Allura stormed forward, hands clenched into fists. “How dare you. You have no right to do this. The war is over, his arm has nothing to do with how we operate. We haven’t done anything wrong. You need to leave.”

A scream from above interrupted her. Allura spun around, her eyes widened as she saw Pidge being dragged out of Allura’s room by her hair. She stumbled down the stairs after Haxus as he pulled her over to Sendak.

“You know,” Sendak looked at Allura again. “Stealing from the empire is an extreme offence. It carries a life sentence.”

Allura’s teeth clenched together. “We didn’t _steal_ anything.”

Sendak gestured at Pidge. “This is something.”

“That’s a _person_.” Shiro said lowly. “Not your property.”

Sendak nodded at Haxus who proceeded to pull Pidge’s hair away from her neck. He turned her so her back faced the rest of the crew. On the back of her neck a barcode had been burned into her skin just above a brand of the galra empire. Allura cringed at the sight.

Pidge pulled herself away from Haxus, just as she was about to run the sentries reemerged, aiming their guns at her. She froze and stepped back.

A grin spread over Sendak’s face as he circled Pidge. “I‘m impressed. You almost got out of the system this time.” He leaned down to meet her eye level. “How’d you do it?”

Pidge narrowed her eyes and attempted to stare the man down. Allura could feel the fear coming from her and was amazed at the facade she was able to keep up.

“It’s not her fault.” Keith spoke up suddenly. “It was mine. I broke her out of there. Punish me, not her.”

Sendak stood back up, looking at Keith in surprise. “You?”

Pidge turned her attention to Keith and shook her head quickly but Keith ignored her. She tried to make her way over to him but her arm was grabbed by Haxus before she could move.

Allura bit her lip viciously. There was nothing she could do to help, she hated when she couldn’t do anything. She looked at Shiro, pleading with her eyes for him to step in, but he just continued to glare ahead at the galra.

“You do realize this is treason, boy?” Sendak warned, walking over to Keith. “The punishment for treason is death.”

Keith looked over at Pidge as she struggled to get out of Haxus’ grip. “Keith don’t do this! Just tell them it was me!”

His gaze softened for a moment before he looked back up at Sendak. “I was supposed to bring her back to her cell, but I broke her out instead.”

Pidge began to struggle more. “No! Keith, you fucking idiot!”

Allura felt her hands shaking as Sendak slapped a pair of handcuffs on Keith. She was conflicted, her innermost beliefs were being toyed with. _There’s no such thing as a good galra._ Just look at Sendak and Haxus. They’re evil. They can’t be good. It’s impossible.

Sendak turned to face Haxus. “Put her under before she destroys anything.”

Pidge’s eyes widened as Haxus pulled a small cylinder from his armor. It was filled with some kind of liquid Allura didn’t recognize. Consequences be damned, she was not going to let them take Pidge away again. She could only feel remnants of what this girl had been through and it was nauseating. She couldn’t allow them to continue their experiments.

Allura began to walk forward but was blocked by two sentries. Her hands balled into fists. Just as she was going to force her way through, she felt herself freeze in her tracks.

Sendak was stepping backwards away from Pidge as her body began to shake. “Haxus hurry up!” He growled.

Haxus grabbed Pidge’s arm and pressed the cylinder against it, injecting the fluid. Pidge let out a gasp before her hand shot forward and shoved Haxus back. Right as her hand collided with him sparks shot out of her hand and erupted through Haxus’ chest. Blood spattered out through the hole as he collapsed onto the ground. After a moment of  wheezing and spitting up blood he stopped breathing and his body went limp.

The sentries quickly approached Pidge, who was staring at her hand in disbelief. A mechanical hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder. The sentry was immediately consumed by sparks before short circuiting and falling to the floor. A bolt of lightning shot forward from its body and traveled sentry to sentry until all five were on the ground, sparking and smoking.

Sendak let out a hideous growl as his robotic hand shot forward and grabbed Pidge. She let out a scream as he lifted her off of the ground. “You little _bitch_! When the druids hear about what you’ve done they’ll finally finish frying that brain of yours, and I will be there to watch while you-”

The sound of a gunshot silenced Sendak. Before he could react a bullet passed through his robotic arm, forcing him to drop Pidge. His head spun around just in time to see Lance fire another shot from the balcony. The second bullet passed through the same spot, breaking the bottom half of his arm off.

Shiro finally ran forward. His arm began to glow a light purple as he delivered a punch to the back of Sendak’s head, knocking him out. Sendak fell forward and face planted into the floor with a thud. Shiro kicked his head for good measure.

“What the hell was that?” Hunk asked, voice shaking as he stood near the back of the cargo bay. Before anyone could answer Keith ran over to Pidge, causing the room to fall silent again. He attempted to pick her up despite his hands being bound.

Allura hurried over as well and sank to her knees. She gently cradled Pidge in her arms as the girl began to calm down. Allura brushed Pidge’s hair out of her face as she felt Pidge’s body relaxing in her arms. Whatever they had given her was forcing her to calm down, which was probably a good thing.

Pidge was breathing in little shaky gasps as Allura ran her hands through her hair.

“You’re safe now. Just rest.” Allura spoke softly, feeling her stomach tighten as the forced relaxation ran its way through Pidge’s body.

Pidge’s eyes fluttered shut, her body slowly went limp in Allura’s arms. Allura heaved a sigh of relief as the girl drifted off into sleep. She looked over at Keith who was sitting next to her on the floor. His face had a softness to it that Allura had never seen in a galra before.

This boy had risked his life to save Pidge. He was willing to die for her. Allura felt a pit form in her stomach. Perhaps she had judged him too harshly. She opened her mouth to apologize but stopped when Keith reached his hand out to rest on Pidge’s forehead.

His voice was so quiet that Allura was certain she was the only person in the room to hear him. “What did they do to you?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating sooner, I've got a lot of stuff going on. I don't know when I'll be updating next, but I will be continuing this. Anyways did you guys see season 3? Shit was crazy.


	7. Go Fish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hunk's POV

**Chapter Seven - Go Fish**

 

It had been a week since The Incident occured and things were finally starting to settle down. It didn’t make Hunk any less anxious, but it made the ship less uncomfortable. Hunk had always struggled with anxiety, but being on the ship with fugitives made it even worse. Every time they passed through a checkpoint or flew by another ship he held his breath as if staying still and being quiet would protect the entire team from harm.

Hunk closed his eyes and took a deep breath before slowly exhaling. Coran had taught him some tricks to help deal with his anxiety, and while they didn’t actually distract him from the problem, they helped slow his heartbeat and calm him down. Hunk began to inhale again when the entire ship lurched forward. He managed to hold himself in his seat until the shaking settled down.

“Damn it, Lance.” He muttered as he settled back into his chair again. Just as he was going to continue his breathing the ship lurched again and tossed him from his chair. He quickly stood as a familiar beep sounded from the intercom.

Lance’s voice echoed through the room. “Guys? I swear I’m not doing stunts up here. Something’s wrong with the ship. I’ll land as soon as possible.”

“Shit.” Hunk cursed under his breath. If they landed they could run into more galra and he was not ready for that yet. Hunk made his way to the door and jogged down the hall to the engine room. Being the mechanic, his room was closest to the engine room in case of incidents like this. He had considered moving into the engine room at one point but decided against it when he realized the noise from the engine would keep him up all night.

He made his way into the room and knelt down next to the engine. His eyes quickly scanned over it but found nothing. He looked over it again, slower this time, but still saw nothing. He shook his head and turned to his toolbox. Maybe looking at different tools would help him think of what could be going on. 

Hunk rummaged through his tool box as though he had a magical wand that could instantly fix the ship. He felt a pit forming in his stomach, and panic rising in his throat. He swallowed nervously. His hands began to shake as his mind raced. This was not a good time for a panic attack.  _ Just breathe. Breathe in, and- _

The ship lurched again, Hunk fell back and landed on the floor next to the engine. He stayed for a moment, staring up at the ceiling as he tried to steady his breathing. Working on a ship while it’s flying is already difficult, but lurching every 3 minutes was making it even harder, especially since he couldn’t focus enough to find the source of the problem.

It was like he was lost in a crowd, completely surrounded, suffocating. He couldn’t breathe, let alone fix an engine. He could feel the air around him grow heavy. He was surrounded with no way out. He felt like the weight of the world was on his shoulders.

_ Focus. Focus. What does Shiro always say about focusing? _ He couldn’t remember, there was just too much to focus on right now to, well, focus. He had to clear his mind. He needed to step back and take things one step at a time.

He took a deep breath again.  _ Ok, think, what can cause a ship to shake? _ Lots of things could cause a ship to shake, but most of them were implausible due to the fact there was no atmosphere where they were. The only thing he could think of would be something with hydraulics. A hydraulic stabilizer, perhaps? It was worth a shot.

Hunk turned his attention back to the engine and let his gaze fall on the hydraulic stabilizers. Sure enough the stabilizer in the middle had shifted out of place, causing the engine to shake and lurch each time it collided with the others. All he had to do was adjust the angle and add a lubricant to decrease any friction in the piston.

_ That’s just two things. You’ve got this. _ He assured himself. He pushed through the room to grab his tools, maneuvering around areas where he felt more panicked. He couldn’t be too close to the walls, or the pipes, or the lights. It wasn’t as safe there.

His heart rate sped up as he found himself kneeling next to the engine. It felt like the world was there, surrounding him, watching him. His breathing quickened as he began to work. His mind kept racing.  _ What if you mess up? What if you fail? What if? _

But he didn’t mess up. He didn’t fail. As Hunk worked on the engine he found his anxiety fading. With each twist of his wrench he felt his muscles unwind. As he shifted the stabilizer back into place he felt his heartbeat slowing down. As he oiled the piston he felt his nausea fading. With each step the engine was running better, and so was Hunk.

One the engine was fully repaired he hurried over to the engine room intercom and called the control room. “Lance, the engine’s all set, we should be good to fly until we need to refuel.”

“You the man, Hunk!” Lance yelled before switching to the shipwide intercom and announcing their success. “Alright y’all, the engine is all set thanks to our brilliant mechanic. We will continue on schedule.”

And just like that his anxiety was gone. Hunk stood in the engine room alone, heart beating and breathing steady.

 

\--------------

 

Hunk shuffled a deck of cards before laying it out on the table. “They probably have wanted posters up already. If anyone sees them we’re screwed.”

Lance leaned forward, drawing several cards from the deck and examining his hand. “I think you’re overreacting.”

“I’m not overreacting, okay? These two are dangerous to have around the ship.” Hunk insisted as he drew his cards.

Lance rolled his eyes. “Got any threes?”

“I’m serious, Lance.” Hunk passed a card across the table. “The galra will be looking for the two of them.”

Lance sighed. “We took care of all the galra that found them on the ship, alright? They didn’t even care that Keith was here.”

“Ok, but what about her?” Hunk began to shuffle the cards in his hand to keep himself busy. “They’ll be looking for her. Rebels or not we aren’t prepared for this.”

Lance drummed his fingers on the table impatiently. “Look, Shiro knows what he’s doing. He’ll have a plan. Now just focus on the game.”

Hunk sighed. “Got any fives?”

“Damn.” Lance slid a card across the table. “How’d you know?”

Hunk shrugged. “Lucky guess.”

The two were interrupted by the sound of Allura’s door opening above them. The sound of footsteps walking across the balcony echoed through the cargo bay. He looked up to see Pidge walking down the balcony stairs. Her hair had been cut up to her shoulders, no longer the tangled mess it had been when she escaped the galra. She was dressed in regular clothes instead of her prison uniform, and she had a smile on her face. The first one Hunk had ever seen. If he didn’t know any better he’d think she was a completely different person.

“You look...better.” Lance broke the silence as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Thanks, Allura thought it would be a good idea for me to change my look, y’know, make it harder for the galra to find me.” Pidge glanced down at her clothes as if to examine them.

“Makes sense.” Hunk nodded, trying to hide how nervous he was. He was amazed Lance could be so calm around her after The Incident, but Lance was always full of surprises.

“Want to join us?” Lance asked, beckoning for her to sit with them.

Hunk shot Lance a pleading look, silently begging him to revoke his offer.

She smiled wider and walked over to where they were sitting. Lance dealt her a hand of cards before looking at Hunk. He smirked before looking back at his hand. Hunk just sat there, hoping the shock wasn’t apparent on his face.

Hunk glanced back down at his cards, ignoring the pit forming in his stomach. He found himself wondering how Lance could be so calm right now. She could kill him if she wanted to. They had all seen it. And now they were just sitting together playing cards.

“Got any threes?” She asked, glancing at Lance.

“Damn,” Lance passed two cards across the table. “Hunk it’s your turn.”

Hunk gazed down at his hand, took a deep breath and looked at Pidge. “Do you have any fives?”

A grin formed on her face. “Go fish.”

 

\--------------

 

Another week had passed and Hunk had to admit, things had calmed down way more than he expected. Keith seemed to be getting along with everyone, with the exception of Lance, and Pidge seemed to be adapting well. In fact, things were so calm that Hunk hadn’t felt anxious all day, until Shiro announced that they were going to be landing soon. Hunk’s work on the engine could keep them flying until the ship needed more fuel, but they were running low on supplies.

With two extra passengers, they weren’t prepared for long bouts of travel. Luckily for them, there was a relatively quiet moon nearby for them to restock. Hunk was currently walking around the market, stocking up on food. While it was true that his specialty was engines, he also had a knack for cooking. It helped him relax, so he took it upon himself to be the ship’s chef as well.

He glanced around the market as he moved on to the next stall. There didn’t seem to be any galra nearby, but he still got the feeling he was being watched. He needed to get out of there as fast as possible. He quickly paid for the supplies and began to make his way back to The Paladin.

The feeling of being watched followed Hunk as he walked through town. He swallowed nervously. He maneuvered through the crowds with extreme caution. His grip on the basket of food tightened as the crowds began to thin out. Being out in the open was somehow worse than being lost in a crowd. Probably because he was easier to spot now.

Hunk sped up into a slow jog as he approached the ship docks. He was almost there, and then he’d be safe. He wouldn’t have to leave the ship again until their next landing. Just as he reached the docks he felt a large hand grasp his bicep and pull him sideways into a nearby alley. Hunk let out a small yelp before another hand covered his mouth. He let go of his basket, struggling to get free. 

“Please, I mean you no harm.” A soft voice spoke next to his ear as the hands on him loosened their grip.

Hunk pulled away and spun around to face his assailant. A hooded figure stood before him. 

“I did not mean to startle you, but I did not know how else to get your attention.” The figure removed the hood and bright yellow eyes locked with Hunk’s. “My name is Shay, and I need your help.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long to update, I've been really busy but I finally got around to writing a short chapter. It's a little all over the place but it's all I've got. Thanks for your patience.


End file.
